A total of 109 boys’ and girls’ teams at various age levels are slated to compete in the 2009 Cortland Shootout basketball tournament, hosted for the fifth year by the Central Western AAU and the Cortland Regional Sports Council.
Games will take place at various area locations, including Park Center and Lusk Field House on the SUNY Cortland campus, Cortland Junior-Senior High School, Tompkins Cortland Community College’s Sports Complex (where the majority of the girls’ games will be played) in Dryden and the County Office Building gymnasium in Cortland.
Teams from Cortland, Syracuse, Buffalo, Rochester, Utica, Binghamton, Clinton, Pennsylvania, Ohio and the Bahamas will compete, with players in age groups from 11 to 17 involved.
“Part of what defines an event’s success is its return,” said Machell Phelps, executive director of the CRSC, which has also brought the NYSPHSAA Girls’ State Soccer Championships and the New York State West Soccer Association Final Four Championships to Cortland. “In this case, not only is the tournament back in Cortland, but so are many of the teams from last year. One of those teams is traveling from the Bahamas to Cortland for the fifth year in a row to participate in our tournament. This tells me that we’re doing something right.
“Another overwhelming measure of success is the growth in registrations for the tournament,” she adds. “To go from 36 teams in 2005 to more than 100 teams in 2008 and 2009 is remarkable. I think it speaks to the kind of event that Central Western puts on. Beyond the competition and fun for the participating teams, there is also an economic benefit for the Cortland community. With this many teams in town for two days, area hotels, restaurants, gas stations and stores are bound to benefit.”
An admission fee will be charged at all games for adults, with the age group finals to take place starting at around 1 p.m. Sunday. The complete schedule can be viewed later this week at www.centralwestwern.org or at www.cortlandsports.org.